Our first ancestor in New France was Roger Casey. All of my life I had to explain to people on St Pat's day that we weren't Irish. we were Frenchmen from Quebec. Guess what, If you go back far enough, you can be surprised. We were Irish after all. And Acadian besides.

Roger, a young Irishman, was not only the first of our ancestors to come to Acadia, he is also the first known Irishman to settle in New France. It is thought that Roger left home due to unrest in his native Ireland. He arrived at Port-Royal, Acadia around 1665. We do not as yet know under what circumstances. He, his wife Marie, and first child are found on the 1671 Port Royal, census.

It seems that when the English began to deport the Acadians in 1755, Roger's grandson Jean and family took to the woods and wound up in Batiscan, P-Q. My Great Grandfather, Pierre Quessy, was raised and owned land in Ste-Genevieve de Batiscan. Many Quessy can still be found within 50 miles of where they originally settled near Trois-Rivieres. I have many of the names of their families and offspring. It turns out there are cousins all over the world, not just the in the US.

Certain members of the third generation settled in Quebec or New Brunswick. Others were deported to Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Still others migrated either to Louisiana or to France. (this means we have Cadjun cousins also)

Oh yes, I have also been in touch with a cousin in New Brunswick who has been our chief historian. Another lives in Australia and is from a branch that was deported to France and made their way to Australia by way of the Seychelles Islands. Recently I have been corresponding with a "Quesis" who lives in Uruguay. It seem his ancestors were among those exiled Acadians who opted to go there from France in the late 1700s.

I have about 3500 Quessy, Caissie and Casey in my data base. I will share with any one who would like or who has Quessy in their past.

Richard Casey (Quessy)
Las Vegas, NV